Your Wednesday Briefing – The New York Times

Critics say the merger would create multiple problems, as our colleague Elizabeth Harris writes. Many authors could receive less money, because fewer publishers would exist to bid on their proposals. Writers without a proven track record might struggle to be published at all, and the industry could become even more dependent on blockbuster titles.

“There are projects that would have sold for $150,000 years ago that might not sell at all now to the big five, whereas the book that would have sold for $500,000 might go for a million,” one literary agent told The Times.

Still, many people in publishing consider Amazon the biggest threat to the health of the book business. “If it’s correct to worry about a merged company that publishes perhaps 33 percent of new books,” Franklin Foer wrote in The Atlantic, “then surely it’s correct to worry more about the fact that Amazon now sells 49 percent of them.”

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Melina

Thank you
Carole Landry helped write this briefing, and Sanam Yar wrote the Back Story. Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh provided the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@politicsay.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about the U.S. stimulus plan to recover from the pandemic.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Blue (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• The Times announced the hires of three experienced journalists for its Live News desk.